Debates to take place after Sept. 10 primary; Berns withdrawing in protest

Independent mayoral candidate Sandra “Queen” Noble sent an F-bomb-laden email to mayoral debate organizers and Libertarian Jim Berns quit the race in protest of news that two mayoral debates hosted by The Cincinnati Enquirer and WCPO will take place after the primary election.

Under the current primary system, multiple mayoral
candidates are allowed to run. But come Sept. 10, voters will select the
top two contenders in a primary. Those frontrunners will then face off in a final
election on Nov. 5 to pick who will take over City Hall on Dec. 1.

Noble, who’s known for being eccentric and running for public office multiple times but never being elected, began the chain of events with an explicit email.

“Fuck you man. The two motherfuckers burn,” Noble wrote in
a July 30 email to mayoral debate organizers. “Queen Noble is being
robbed of the elections thanks to motherfucker such as yourself seeing
the future and shit. The fuck you mean debate after the election robbing
primary. It's a rip off for the incumbents in it self (sic). Dirty
motherfuckers are backed by dirty motherfuckers cheating the public out
the best candidates so fuck you and the primary election. Queen Noble
will debate now asshole.”

Berns replied in his own July 30 email, “Queen Noble is
right. The September 10th Top Two Primary's only purpose is to cheat the
public out of the best candidates for Mayor of Cincinnati.”

Today, Berns announced he’s withdrawing from the race in protest of the primary.

The criticism isn’t new to local politics. Berns has been
vocally critical of the primary process ever since the mayoral
campaigns, media outlets and other interested parties began meeting early in the year to
set up the debates.

Supporters of the primary system say it helps narrow down
the field so voters can better evaluate and scrutinize the frontrunners.
Some also claim it positively extends the electoral process, so voters
are forced to think about their choice for mayor from the primary in
September to the election in November.

Berns argues the primary system favors establishment
candidates, especially when media outlets fail to cover campaign events
and debates prior to the primary vote. He also says the $350,000 to
$400,000 it costs the city to hold the primary is a waste of money, and
voters should instead choose from a full pool of candidates in November.

The criticisms are further accentuated by how media outlets cover the election, which affects how the public and organizations that endorse candidates learn about them. It’s rare a media outlet or local organization wants to
host a debate, especially a televised debate, before the primary, and
it’s even rarer the debate involves more than the two expected
frontrunners.

But that gives the most publicity to those who lead the
race from the start. Not only do the top two contenders get to
participate in a televised debate, but media outlets also tend to give
much more coverage to the candidates they know are going to
appear on television.

This year, the expected contenders are Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls and ex-Councilman John Cranley,
two Democrats. Both have said they support the primary system, although
Cranley has stated he supports moving the date so it coincides with
countywide or statewide elections earlier in the year.

Cincinnati has directly elected its mayors since 2001.
Since then, the primary system has been necessary twice. The other
mayoral elections involved only two candidates.

Until 2001, the mayor was the City Council candidate who got the most votes.

Democratic attorney general candidate David Pepper is
criticizing Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine for contesting the case that’s forcing the state to recognize the same-sex
marriage of two Cincinnatians, one of who is currently sick with
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a deadly neurodegenerative disease with
no known cure, and expected to die soon. “Above all, an Attorney General
takes an oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution. This case is
a truly sad example of constitutional rights being violated, and the
deep and personal harms that result from constitutionally unequal
treatment,” Pepper, a former Hamilton County commissioner and Cincinnati Council member, said in a statement. “I respectfully call upon
Attorney General DeWine to recognize the clear constitutional wrongs
taking place here. Allow this couple to spend their final weeks together
in dignity.”

The Cincinnati metropolitan area received a mixed jobs report in June,
gaining some jobs over the year but not enough to match population
trends. Cincinnati’s seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate hit 7.4
percent in June, up from 6.8 percent in May and the same as the year
before. Although the jobs report was fairly negative, the area has
received some good news as of late: Housing sales were up in June despite higher interest rates, and CNBC host Joe Kernen, a Western Hills native, in July 22 segment declared, “Cincinnati has successfully reinvented itself as a hub for innovation” and technology.

Early voting for Cincinnati’s Sept. 10 mayoral primary begins Aug. 6. The candidates are Democrats Roxanne Qualls and John Cranley,
Libertarian Jim Berns and Independent Queen Noble. The top two
finishers will face each other again in the Nov. 5 election. Qualls and Cranley are
perceived as the leading contenders in the race.

BRIDGES for a Just Community will shut down
by early September. The nonprofit, which was founded as the Cincinnati
chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, has promoted
religious inclusion in the workplace, schools and broader communities
since 1944. “Improving community attitudes toward diversity and
inclusion, which are a direct result of BRIDGES’ work, coupled with
increasing competition in providing services caused the organization to
experience persistent financial challenges in recent years,” the
organization said in a statement.

Butler County Sheriff’s deputies arrested and charged
two men for possessing 155 pounds of marijuana, valued at more than
$155,000, in their vehicle at a traffic stop Sunday. Butler County
Richard Jones is calling the case evidence that the Mexico-U.S. border
isn’t secure.

Talking Points Memoobtained the U.S. House Republicans’ political playbook for the congressional recess.
One highlight: “Remarkably, the packet includes virtually no discussion
of immigration reform — a major issue pending before the House after
comprehensive legislation passed the Senate.”

Following Democratic mayoral candidate John Cranley’s announcement Friday to increase city contracts with minority- and women-owned businesses once elected, fellow Democratic mayoral candidate and Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls echoed support for the proposals, although she disputed Cranley’s record on the issue.
One issue in particular is the Croson study that would allow the city
to prepare for a broader inclusion plan for minorities and women. Qualls has repeatedly proposed a Croson study during her time in
City Council and previous time in the mayor’s office, but she says
Cranley failed to publicly raise the issue at all during his time on
council between 2000 and 2009.

Cincinnati’s streetcar project cleared another hurdle
Friday when Messer Construction announced it needed $500,000 to carry
out construction work, which is easily covered by the project’s $10
million contingency fund.
With a construction contract, new funding and accountability measures
now moving forward, the only potential issue is who has to pay to
move utility lines to accommodate for streetcar tracks. The city claims
Duke Energy does, while the energy company puts the onus on the city.
That issue is currently being worked out in court, although the city has
already set aside $15 million to carry out the work for now and just in
case Duke isn’t forced to carry the costs. Throughout the streetcar’s
history, the project has been mired in misrepresentations and
exaggerations, which CityBeat covered in further detail here.

The recently approved two-year state budget provides about $517 million less local government funding than the budget did in 2011,
even though it pays for $2.7 billion in new tax cuts. Democrats have been highly critical of the cuts, but the
governor’s office says local governments are effectively getting more
funding through other sources not particularly geared for city and
county governments. CityBeat covered local government funding in greater detail here and the state budget here.

The Health Careers Collaborative, an organization working to increase health care employment in Greater Cincinnati, has a new leader.

Amish communities in Ohio are questioning whether they should take royalties for land that would be used for fracking,
an oil and gas extraction process that environmentalists claim is
dangerous for surrounding air and water. For the Amish, the issue is
spiritual, rooted in their religious restrictions against technology and
many facets of the modern world. CityBeat covered fracking and its ongoing effect on some Ohio communities in greater detail here.

Democratic mayoral candidate John Cranley is releasing a plan
today that promises to reward more of the city’s business contracts to
black people, Latinos and women if he’s elected. Cranley says he will
hire an inclusion officer that would help him achieve the goals of the plan,
which is modeled partly after the African American Chamber of Commerce’s
OPEN Cincinnati Plan that was passed by City Council in 2009. “In order
to make Cincinnati a world-class city, we have to have a thriving,
diverse middle class. We can’t do that if we leave half of our residents
behind economically,” Cranley said in a statement. Cranley’s main
opponent in the mayoral race is Democratic Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls,
who supported the OPEN Cincinnati Plan in 2009. So far, the main issues surrounding the campaign have been the streetcar and parking plan — both of which Cranley opposes and Qualls supports.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald is asking Ohioans to take up a long, complicated petitioning process
that could lead to the repeal of some of the anti-abortion measures in
the state budget. The process could force the Ohio General Assembly to
consider repealing some of the measures unrelated to appropriating state
funds, or it could put the repeal effort on the ballot in November
2014. FitzGerald is jump-starting the repeal campaign through a new
website,Ohioans Fight Back. CityBeat
covered the state budget and its anti-abortion provisions, which
Republican Gov. John Kasich signed into law, in further detail here.

A state audit found more evidence of misused public funds
at Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy (CCPA), Greater Cincinnati’s
largest charter school, including one example of salary overpayment and a
range of inappropriate purchases of meals and entertainment. The
school’s former superintendent and treasurer are already facing trial on
charges of theft for previously discovered incidents. CCPA is set to
receive $6 million from the state in 2014, up 3 percent from the
previous year.

The state’s prison watchdog released a new report that found force is more often used against blacks in Ohio prisons.
Nearly 65 percent of “use of force” incidents in 2012 involved blacks,
even though they only make up about 46 percent of the total prison
population.

After analyzing reports from the first quarter, Hamilton County revised its estimates for casino revenue downward.
That means $500,000 less in 2014 for the stadium fund, which has long
presented problems for the county’s budget. Still, the county says the
revision isn’t a big problem and the focus should instead be on the bigger problem: a looming $30 million budget gap.

Following an approved transfer from the governor and his staff, Ohio’s “rainy day fund” hit an all-time record of $1.5 billion.
The fund is typically tapped into during emergency economic situations
in which the state must spend a lot of extra money or take extraordinary
measures to fix a sudden budget shortfall.

Ohio is No. 4 in the nation for foreclosures,
according to a report from real estate information company RealtyTrac.
The report adds more doubt to claims that Ohio is undergoing some
sort of unique economic recovery, following a string of reports that
found year-over-year job growth is lacking in the state. Still, Ohio added
more jobs than any other state in May. If the robust growth holds in the
June job report due next week, it could be a great economic sign for the state.

New evidence suggests a fraction of disposable wells used during the hydraulic fracturing process — also known as “fracking” — cause earthquakes,
but the risk can be averted with careful monitoring, according to the
researchers. Fracking involves pumping millions of gallons of water
underground to free up oil and gas reserves. CityBeat covered its effects in Ohio in further detail here.

The Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly yesterday
passed its state budget for the next two years, and Gov. John Kasich is
expected to sign the bill this weekend. Part of the budget is a tax plan
that would cut income taxes but raise sales and property taxes in a way
that Policy Matters Ohio, a left-leaning public policy think tank, says
would ultimately favor the state’s wealthiest.
On average, individuals in the top 1 percent would see their taxes fall by $6,083, or
0.7 percent, under the plan, while those in the bottom 20 percent would pay about
$12, or 0.1 percent, more in taxes, according to Policy Matters’
analysis.

The state budget also includes several anti-abortion measures: less funding for Planned Parenthood, more funding for
anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers, regulations that could be used
by the state health director to shut down abortion clinics and a
requirement for doctors to do an external ultrasound on a woman seeking
an abortion and inform her whether a heartbeat is detected. Republicans claim they’re protecting the sanctity of
human life, while abortion rights advocates are labeling the measures
an attack on women’s rights.

Cincinnati will have a mayoral primary on Sept. 10.
Five candidates vying for the highest elected position in the city:
Democrats Roxanne Qualls and John Cranley, Libertarian Jim Berns,
self-identified Republican Stacy Smith and Sandra Queen Noble. Qualls
and Cranley are widely seen as the favorites, with each candidate
splitting on issues like the parking lease and streetcar. Qualls supports the policies, while Cranley opposes both. A recent poll from the Cranley campaign found the race deadlocked, with Cranley and Qualls both getting 40 percent of the vote and the rest of polled voters claiming they’re undecided.

Elmwood Place’s speed cameras are being confiscated by the Hamilton County Sheriff Department. Judge Robert Ruehlman originally told
operating company Optotraffic to turn the cameras off, but when the company
didn’t listen, the judge ruled the cameras should be confiscated.

President Barack Obama signaled on Thursday that the federal government will extend marriage benefits to gay and lesbian couples in all states,
even those states that don’t allow same-sex marriage. That may mean a
gay couple in Ohio could get married in New York and Massachusetts and
still have their marriage counted at the federal level, but state
limitations would still remain. The administration’s plans follow a U.S.
Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday that struck down a federal ban on
same-sex marriage.

Got questions for CityBeat about, well, anything? Submit them here, and we’ll try to get back to you in our first Answers Issue.

Even without the parking plan, the city passed a budget with no public safety layoffs and is moving forward
with plans for the Uptown interchange project, a downtown grocery store, a new garage to replace Pogue’s Garage, Wasson Way and the Smale Riverfront Park. The turnaround has
prompted some critics to question whether city officials were being
honest when they cited a list of potential problems if the city failed
to semi-privatize its parking assets to raise funds, but Mayor Mark
Mallory and supporters say a lot changed between the time the threats
were made and now, including tax revenues coming in at $4.5 million
better than projected.

The Columbus Dispatch says Gov. John Kasich has found himself “playing defense”
in the current budget cycle — a sharp contrast to the budget cycle in
2011. Both the Ohio House and Senate have greatly changed Kasich’s original budget plan. Instead of
taking up Kasich on his plan to expand the sales tax while lowering the
rate, cut income taxes by 20 percent across the board and cut small
business taxes, the House approved a 7-percent across-the-board income tax
cut and the Senate replaced the House plan with a tax cut aimed at small businesses. Both
chambers also rejected the Kasich-backed, federally funded Medicaid
expansion and the governor’s education funding plan.

Estimates for Cincinnati’s Horseshoe Casino improved last month,
coming in at $2 million more than April’s estimates. The $20 million
estimate is still nearly $2 million less than the casino received on
opening month.

Board of Elections looking into anonymous video, but no formal challenge filed

A YouTube video
posted Sunday suggests that some of the parking plan referendum petition
signatures might have been gathered without a legitimate witness, but city
and county officials are so far unsure whether the video, which was posted anonymously, will amount to
much.

Under Ohio law, petitions require signatures from both a supporter, who must reside in Cincinnati in the case of parking petitions, and a witness, who must be an Ohio resident and witness the act of someone signing the petition.

The video shows what seems to be parking petitions placed on business counters with limited supervision — potential evidence that some of the parking petitions were signed without a witness present.

Tim Burke, chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic
Party and Hamilton County Board of Elections, says the Board of
Elections is currently looking into what process needs to be followed as a result of the video.

Traditionally, Burke says, someone has to file a challenge,
which would then be investigated by the board. At that point, the board
would rely on subpoenas to get testimony from witnesses to determine
whether their petitions were valid.

“Under oath, circulators are likely to tell us the truth,”
Burke says. “Did you witness all the signatures on that parking petition? If he says no or she says no, ... then none of those
signatures are valid.”

But Burke says it’s so far unclear whether that process will happen.

“The video is interesting, but it doesn’t prove anything,”
he says. “Any challenger would have to link each one of those shots in
the video to specific petitions that were signed by the circulator of
the petition that was on those counters.”

Even if someone did bring a challenge, it would
require nearly 4,000 invalid signatures to halt the parking plan referendum effort.
Yesterday, the Board of Elections announced the referendum effort had
gathered 12,446 valid signatures — considerably more than the 8,522
required.

“Because they are so far over, there’s going to have to be
more evidence by any petitioner that there are problems well beyond
those five or six sights shown in the video,” Burke says.

Circulators who mishandled the process would
not face charges; instead, the signatures would simply be
discarded, according to Burke.

City Solicitor John Curp says the city’s law department is
taking “no side on whether there’s a vote,” and the city administration
has not taken action based on the video.

Curp says he would like to confirm whether those are parking petitions and if the video is factual in its presentation.

“If those were parking petitions, that was certainly troubling,” he says. “I hope this gets worked out in a timely manner.”

The parking plan would lease the city’s parking assets to
the Greater Cincinnati Port Authority to help balance the city’s
operating budget deficits for the next two years and fund development
projects around the city, including a downtown grocery store (“Parking Stimulus,” issue of Feb. 27).

Opponents say they’re concerned the plan will lead to
higher parking rates and extended hours that will hurt the local
economy. With 12,466 valid signatures, their referendum effort is
expected to culminate in a vote this November.

Senator loses support following shift in favor of same-sex marriage

With a margin of error of 2.9 percent, the Quinnipiac poll found 48 percent of Ohio voters now support gay marriage, with 44 percent still in opposition. That's an improvement from a Dec. 12 poll, which found 47 percent of Ohio voters were against same-sex marriage and 45 percent favored it.

The latest results varied greatly depending on the respondent's sex. Women supported same-sex marriage 52-40, while men opposed it 49-43.

The poll also found Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican, lost support after coming out in favor of same-sex marriage, but Quinnipiac's statement says the drop was likely attributable to a drop in overall Republican support. Portman's approval rating dropped to 40 percent, down from 44 percent in Feb. 28. Respondents had mixed feelings about Portman's same-sex marriage shift: 20 percent said they think more favorably of him, 25 percent said they think less favorably of him and 53 percent said it made no difference.

Even if the small drop is attributable to Portman's new views on same-sex marriage, the shift could be a net gain for the senator through increased campaign funds. After President Barack Obama came out in favor of same-sex marriage last year, his campaign raised $1.5 million in just 90 minutes even as some political pundits criticized the president's move as politically dangerous.

The legalization of same-sex marriage could be on the ballot this year following Freedom Ohio's efforts ("Evolution of Equality," issue of Nov. 28). If approved by voters, Freedom Ohio's proposed amendment would repeal Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage and legalize it while retaining some protections for religious institutions.

A Washington Post poll conducted in September found Ohioans were supportive of same-sex marriage for the very first time, with 52 percent in favor and 37 percent against.

Critics say mayoral candidate’s proposal is flawed

In response to the March 28 announcement that City Manager
Milton Dohoney Jr. has begun implementing a plan that will lay off cops
and firefighters, mayoral candidate John Cranley released his own budget plan that claims to avoid layoffs and the implementation of the city’s parking plan. But critics say Cranley’s budget is unworkable.

Cranley’s budget uses casino revenue, parking meter
revenue and various cuts to raise nearly $33.8 million — more than the
$25.8 million necessary to balance the budget without a parking plan.

Cranley’s critics have taken to social media to claim
Cranley’s revenue projections are “fantasy.” They also claim the
across-the-board budget cuts ignore the city’s priority-driven budgeting
process, and there’s no certainty that such broad cuts can be carried
out without laying off city employees.

Whether avoiding layoffs is possible through Cranley’s proposal remains unclear,even according
to Cranley’s two-page budget plan, which reads, “We need to identify
only roughly $26 million to cover the 2014 deficit and will reduce some
of these cuts to ensure that there are no layoffs.”

Cranley says there is no certainty that the cuts could be
carried out without any layoffs, but he says he would do everything he
can to prevent personnel cuts: “I believe that people should take pay cuts. … If I
cut the office of the council members’ staff, I can’t force an
individual council member not to lay someone off, but I would certainly
encourage them to reduce salaries as opposed to layoffs.”

In government budget terms, a 10-percent cut to any
department is fairly large — particularly for Cincinnati’s operating
budget, which uses 90 percent of its funds on personnel. In comparison, the cuts from the 2013 sequester, the across-the-board federal
spending cuts that President Barack Obama and fellow Democrats say will
lead to furloughs and layoffs around the nation, ranged between 2
percent and 7.9 percent, depending on the department.

The cuts make up one-third of Cranley’s proposal, while the rest of the money comes from casino and parking meter revenue. For his casino revenue numbers, Cranley cites Horseshoe
Casino General Manager Kevin Kline, who told City Council he
expects the casino to raise $21 million each year, but city officials
have said they only expect $10 million a year.

Cranley insists the extra $11 million will come to fruition.
He says, “I would put my track record of being the chairman of the
budget committee for eight years, which balanced budgets without
layoffs, ahead of the people at the city that estimated the costs of the
streetcar.”

Just in case, Cranley says his plan purposely overshoots the $25.8 million deficit to leave some leeway in carrying out cuts. But without the extra $11 million, Cranley’s plan would only raise about $22.8 million — $3 million short of filling the budget gap.

Jon Harmon, legislative director for Councilman Chris
Seelbach’s office, says the city and state were originally expecting a
lot more revenue from the state’s new casinos, but the legalization of
racinos, which enabled racetrack gambling, has pushed revenue projections down.

In February, Ohio’s Office of Budget Management estimated
the Horseshoe Casino will raise $75 million in tax revenue for the city,
state and schools, down from a 2009 estimate of $111 million, after
seeing disappointing returns from Ohio’s already-opened casinos. The
local numbers reflect a statewide revision downward: In 2009, the state
government estimated Ohio’s casinos would take in $1.9 billion a year,
but that projection was changed to $957.7 million a year in February.

Even if Cincinnati’s Horseshoe Casino does much better
than the state’s other casinos, the way casino revenue is collected and
distributed by the state makes a $21 million windfall unlikely,
according to Harmon. Before the state distributes casino revenue to
cities, counties and schools based on preset proportions, the money is
pooled together, which means all the casinos would have to hit original
estimates for Cincinnati to get $21 million — an unlikely scenario,
according to Harmon.

The other major revenue source in Cranley’s budget is $5.2 million in parking meter revenue, which the city manager’s office told CityBeat in February
is usable for the general fund after months of insisting otherwise.
Some of that money is already used in the general fund under current law, but the parking plan would remove that revenue altogether and replace it with new revenue. Cranley says his plan would forgo the parking plan and secure the $5.2 million in the general fund.

Among other cuts, Cranley’s proposal would eliminate some of
the money that goes to software licensing. With the way the cut is
outlined in Cranley’s two-paged budget proposal, it’s unclear whether it
would hit all software licensing or just some of it, but Cranley says his plan is only reducing $531,554 of about $2.6 million, which he says
still leaves a $1 million increase over 2012’s software licensing
budget.

“I’m telling people what my priorities are: police, fire,
parks, recreation, garbage collection, health department (and) human
services,” he says. “I believe that elected officials should not be
paying consultants from Denver to tell people in Cincinnati what their
priorities are. I believe that elected officials should tell the voters
what their priorities are.”

With or without the parking plan, Cranley says the city is
facing structural deficit problems. He says his plan permanently
fixes those issues, while the parking plan would only eliminate the deficit for the next two fiscal years.

The parking plan, which was approved by City Council on March 6,
would lease the city’s parking assets to the Port of Greater Cincinnati
Development Authority to help balance the deficit for the next two
fiscal years and fund development projects, including a downtown grocery store (“Parking Stimulus,” issue of Feb. 27).

A new Saperstein Poll suggests Ohioans have dramatically shifted on same-sex marriage,
with 54 percent now supporting a new amendment to legalize gay marriage
and only 40 percent against it. FreedomOhio’s amendment would repeal
Ohio’s 2004 same-sex marriage ban and instead grant marriage rights to the
state’s many LGBT individuals. CityBeat covered the same-sex marriage amendment in further detail here and the inevitability of gay rights here. Last week, Gov. John Kasich reaffirmed his opposition to same-sex marriage and civil unions, which likely holds bad political consequences because of changing demographics.

Will Portman, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman’s son, wrote about coming out to his father and the experiences that followed
in today’s Yale Daily News.
In the column, Portman explained why his father took two years to shift on
same-sex marriage: “Some people have criticized my dad for waiting for
two years after I came out to him before he endorsed marriage for gay
couples. Part of the reason for that is that it took time for him to
think through the issue more deeply after the impetus of my coming out.
But another factor was my reluctance to make my personal life public.”

If the Ohio Department of Education adopts the more
rigorous school report cards demanded by lawmakers, many of the state’s
charter schools will get F’s.
Most schools would fall under the new standards, but 72 percent of
charter schools would fail — an unwelcome sign for
alternative schools often touted by Republicans for offering more school
choice. The schools’ advocates claim the discrepancy between charter
schools and other traditional public schools is driven by demographics
and greater diversity.

City Councilman Chris Seelbach announced Friday that City Council is poised to support a motion
that will prevent companies and other groups from discriminating if
they take public funds. The initiative is coming together after the Gay, Lesbian,
Straight Education Network (GLSEN) was prevented from marching in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Western & Southern has launched the next phase of its
ongoing legal attack to run the Anna Louise Inn out of the Lytle Park
neighborhood: The financial giant is now accusing ALI and the city of lying and discrimination.
In a letter to City Solicitor John Curp, Western & Southern’s
attorneys claimed ALI can’t take federal funds and continue refusing
services to men. The city and ALI are so far unsure whether Western & Southern has a case.

A comet, not an asteroid, may have killed the dinosaurs.
The study may provide fuel to those worried about an impending
apocalypse: There are about two million asteroids more than one
kilometer wide in the solar system, but scientists estimate that there
are up to one trillion comets.